Editor,
I would like to highlight the problems being faced by electricity consumers following the installation of smart meter boxes. Some persons claiming to be from the Power Department came to install the smart meter box at my house and claimed that now each and every household in the ICR would be fitted with the smart meter box, and that they had been directed to install meter boxes.
They said also that the smart meter box would function just like the earlier prepaid meter box system, under which the consumers would use electricity as per requirement.
They said also that billing would be started after two or three months post installing this meter box. I thought that it was a direction from the Power Department, and that the recharge system would be similar to the earlier one, so I told them to install it.
And as told by them, the electricity bill did not come for one or two months.
But after two months, a message came in my mobile phone that a bill amounting to around Rs 4,500 had to be paid. Seconds later, another bill message came, saying that bill amounting to around Rs 8,000 had to be paid. I literally fainted for a few seconds, seeing such heavy bills. I thought to myself, Am I running any hotel or business centre at my home for which such high amount has been generated?
I thought there must be some error in bill generation and thought of visiting the Power Department billing centre in C Sector, Itanagar. Then I began to get news from a few relatives/friends as well as on social media that this was happening to many people.
I visited the Power Department to raise a complaint. There were so many people who came and said at the bill payment counter that they had received too high bills for the month. There I got to know that the installation of new smart meter box was being done by a third party private company and not directly by the Power Department.
I also came to know that the installation process has not even covered 50% of the capital area but billing has already started. I also got to know from the department’s people that there must be some technical error in the billing process. They assured us that the matter would be taken up and installation process would be stopped for the time being. They also assured that if possible, the earlier meter system would be reinstalled. With a little hope I left the office.
But today I again received a message that a bill amounting to around Rs 10,000 has been generated. This infuriated me. Instead of rectifying, they further generated an exorbitant bill. How can we common people pay such high bills? The government keeps on saying that water and electricity bills would be minimised as much as possible, but just the opposite is happening. We are not asking for free electricity and water. Of course we are ready to pay bills, so that some revenue can be generated, but there should be proper logic in generating bills. I don’t understand why the department concerned is keeping mum in this regard.
I earnestly request the department concerned and the state government to look into this matter of the common people. I strongly believe that, like me, there must be many other common people who are going through this.
A citizen of ICR